More than a sport – baseball culture in Japan

Through the baseball culture in Japan, baseball means more than a sport to me.

To an avid baseball fan like myself this time of the year ranks up there with Christmas morning.

What is that I smell?

Peanuts? Hotdogs? Is it $9 beers?

I can’t seem to put my finger on it — oh, it’s baseball season in full force.

The World Baseball Classic and now Major League Baseball’s season opening.

That’s what it is.

This season, perhaps more than ever, I’m pumped.

It’s not really because of a particular player or team. Rather, it’s because there’s a palpable buzz amongst the global baseball community that’s seemingly born from enigmatic Japanese culture and has since spread worldwide.

After all, there’s a lot to be excited about when you’re the country that produced Shohei Ohtani.

Now I know what you’re thinking: “baseball is kind of hard to watch, and it’s just so slow, and…” . And you’re not wrong.

I played for seventeen years. I get it.

I’m not going to stand here and gaslight you. But I do want to get into how the baseball culture in Japan has gotten it right.

In Japan, baseball can be an entertaining, exhilarating, and dare I say culturally-significant environment. 

Let’s kick things off with the World Baseball Classic, perhaps best be summarized as the World Cup of baseball.

The 2023 World Baseball Classic

The most recent iteration of the World Baseball Classic was held just last month, and saw athletes from all across the globe gather in a twenty team tournament to determine which country would reign supreme.

And this year’s tournament, by no exaggeration, was the most electric to date. After a thrilling couple weeks of games, the fans — diehards and casuals alike — were treated to the ultimate storybook ending.

With the game on the line Shohei Ohtani struck out Mike Trout to secure Team Japan’s 3-2 win over the USA, and hoist the…